And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

In fulfillment of God's promise to David,II Samuel 7, King David's son Solomon did build the temple, the first permanent dwelling place for the worship of the Jewish people in Jerusalem.

I Kings 5is the record of Solomon's preparations to build the Temple with the gathering together of the manpower and materials.I Kings 6, Solomon begins the building of the Temple.I Kings 7is the story of the building of the home of Solomon.

Notice inI Kings 7:1, it took Solomon 13 years to build his house and according toI Kings 6:38it only took 7 years to build the Temple. Solomon had a very interesting priority. I Kings 8reveals that Solomon brought the "Ark of the Covenant" into the Temple. What a day that was when the "Glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord".

As we come to our devotional reading for today,I Kings 9:1-9, we see recorded the second pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus to King Solomon, the first being in Gibeon,I Kings 3:5. The Lord tells the King of Israel that He had heard his prayer and supplication,verse 3. The Lord also said that Solomon's permanent "worship center", the Temple, was to be "hallowed" by Him.

The Lord added that He would put His name there at the Temple, forever, and that His eyes and His heart would be there "perpetually". The Lord then makes a promise and gives a warning to the King.

Inverses 4-5the Lord promises Solomon that if He would walk before Him as his father David had done, and do according to all that the Lord commanded him to do, King Solomon's kingdom would be established forever, as He had promised his father David.

However, there is a "but",verse 6. The Lord tells Solomon that if he or his children turn from following Him, do not keep His commandments and if they follow after other gods, then Israel would be cut off out of the land that He had given the children of Israel.

The Lord also told Solomon the Temple would be destroyed, a result of the children of Israel failing to follow and obey Him. Solomon was told that people of the world would look at Israel as a "proverb and byword".

These worldly people would ask why Israel was not in the land and why was the Temple destroyed. The Lord answers that question in advance, "because the people of Israel forsook the Lord their God",verse 9.

This prophecy that Jesus gave to Solomon was fulfilled, in fact fulfilled, twice. In 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon's Temple and took the Jews out of their God-given land. Some seventy years later the Jews returned to the land and built another Temple,Ezra 1-6.

Then, because of additional disobedience, the Lord followed through on His promise again and had the Roman Army destroy the Second Temple and disbursed the Jews out of their land. When God makes a promise, He keeps that promise.

The Lord made another promise, that He would bring the Jews back into the land in the last days and give them another Temple. This scenario found in God's prophetic word is in the process of being played out in our world today.

PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord, to walk before You daily and do that which You direct me to do as I await Your return.